"What happens in Vegas"... Will likely end up on this site. Sorry, Las Vegas Chamber.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Meet the Candidates: Assembly District 20 (Spiegel & Ivey)

The Henderson Democratic Club continued its great tradition of hosting candidate nights last night when we were greeted by mostly Legislature candidates all eager to introduce (or reintroduce) themselves to a room full of activists.

It was a long night, but certainly the kind of long night that political junkies can't get enough of. There was some "speechifying", but there were also some fascinating frank moments. And I figured I could at least do a good public service and provide some of the best highlights of the night here at the blog.

There were quite a few candidates who spoke last night, but I'll begin by highlighting the candidates in AD 20. Remember that this seat is unique in that's been uprooted from Boulder City & Mesquite, and moved to urban Paradise and North Henderson. This should be a safe Democratic pick-up this fall, so the action here will mostly be in the primary.

Spiegel was next, and she reminded the audience of her local ties. (She served as an Assembly Member from 2009-10.)

And then, the real fun began. Both candidates were asked about the state budget, but we saw different answers emerge. Here's Ellen Spiegel's response.

And here's Kent Ivey's.

Both sounded open to mining tax reform, and neither wanted to be completely pigeon holed. However, Ivey seems to be swinging out of right field with the sales tax hike. Weird. Meanwhile, Spiegel sounded more open to changing business taxes, which is quite interesting considering she's a small business owner herself and she previously represented a more Republican leaning swing district.

It looks like Democrats in AD 20 will be facing a tough choice. We'll have to see what happens in the next two months.

(And stay tuned tomorrow for more candidate info directly from the candidates.)